Michael Reagan: US Employs 'Band-Aid' Solution for Iraq's Problems

The United States failed in the Middle East by pulling all of its troops out of Iraq rather than coming to a negotiated settlement with that country's leaders to leave some troops in the country, Michael Reagan told Newsmax TV Wednesday.

"Now we have a band-aid effect to try to save a situation that we in fact helped create," Reagan told "America's Forum" host John Bachman.
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Reagan, who is the son of late President Ronald Reagan, said he cannot foresee a time when the United States will not be involved in some kind of Middle East conflict, even though it had been hoped that once terror leader Osama bin Laden was gone, matters would calm down.

Meanwhile, President Barack Obama will try to get more support for his current strategy in Iraq, because "he doesn't want this situation going on in Iraq to shadow and stall his legacy that he put in place with Obamacare at the beginning of his administration."

"I his own eyes, it's a good idea to go back to Congress, ask for more money and put the additional 1,500 troops in there now," said Reagan. "At this point, with more later on, Congress, with some caveats, will probably give him the money."

Overall, what America wants is a strategy for winning, said Reagan.

"Is it we win, they lose?" he said. "Is it going to be that simple? Or is it going to be something else? We've now lost Iraq. All those areas that we gave our blood for, men and women losing limbs – all those areas have been taken back by ISIS and others, that's just incredible."

And if he was a "Gold Star mother," Reagan said, "I'd be forming a group and marching on Washington D.C. saying 'what the hell were you thinking?' That's what I would be doing. This time you need a strategy of winning the day, not winning and giving it away."

But Obama doesn't know how to articulate his goals for defeating the Islamic State, Reagan said, which is "an incredible problem with the president of the United States.

In other matters, Reagan discussed the growing unease in Ferguson, Missouri, where a grand jury decision in the Michael Brown shooting case coming as soon as mid-November.

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If Officer Darren Wilson is not indicted in the shooting death of Brown, who was unarmed but reportedly threatening, there could be another wave of violence in the city — and throughout the nation, for that matter — at the hands of protesters.

Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon said Tuesday that law enforcement officials have been working around the clock to make sure residents and businesses are kept safe once prosecutors announce their decision. The looting and violence that surrounded protests after the shooting will not be tolerated, Nixon said.

But, Reagan said, "this only happens within the African-American community. You don't see the police department on horses with riot gear when a Hispanic is on trial or there's something going on in a grand jury to see if a Hispanic or an illegal is going to be indicted for murder or something."

Further, he said, "you don't see it within the white community. You only see it in the black community and that's really unfortunate."

Agitators in the African-American community stir up people, said Reagan, and he's "always been amazed that this group of people, the African-American community, end up destroying their own businesses and in their own community and then later on come back to the rest of the communities: the Hispanic, white and Asian community ask us in our taxes to pay to rebuild what they destroyed. It's outrageous."

The pressure comes, when opposing forces tell authorities that if they don't do what is wanted, "then we're going to riot in the streets of Ferguson," said Reagan. "Much like what happened here in Los Angeles with the Rodney King situation. All the information doesn't get out there and so the black community does not get all the information, the agitators give them what they want to give them to cause ultimately the riots."

But he still hopes the grand jury "gets it right one way or the other," but if there is no indictment, "there will be riots in Ferguson. The police department is doing the right thing by preparing itself to take care of any rioters."

Reagan also took a few minutes to remember some of the conversations he had with his father about the fall of the Berlin Wall, pointing out that the elder Reagan never took credit for his role, but allowed others to share credit.

"We give my father credit because he was always about that wall coming down, always about peace and freedom throughout the world," said Reagan.

However, the reality is, "that area of the world is not getting better, its getting worse because we're not there," said Reagan.

The United States failed in the Middle East by pulling all of its troops out of Iraq rather than coming to a negotiated settlement with that country's leaders to leave some troops in the country, Michael Reagan told Newsmax TV Wednesday.